Game History
Drifting silently through the space between spaces, the planes of Culthet and Mishway had orbited one another for aeons before the first Lords of Creation appeared. Here is their story, and the story of what happened to the worlds that they inhabited. Before the WorldWarp Turn 0: May 19th-23rd Culthet All was still and dead in the plane of Culthet, the last of the inhabitants of the old world long dead save a colony of worms living deep towards the core. Above, deep, black oceans roil beneath a stormy sky, with only a few small spires of rock peeking up from the waves. Then, with a thunderous roar, Itja-Rek's tomb appears from the Otherness, crashing into the ocean and signalling the start of another age of gods and creation. Deep below, the worms turn on one another, eating and devowering one another until only one gigantic worm is left, which achieves godhood: Davos is born. While the two gods speak, a third, Karak, bubbles up from the core of Culthet and moves to join them as all of the gods begin to create life. It is at about this time that Hulna, one of the souls within Itja-Rek realizes that it has enough power to achieve godhood in its own right, although for the moment it is content to wait within the other god for the opportune time to emerge. As the first turn draws to a close, the gods Itja-Rek,Davos and Karak join their power together to create a truly terrible monster, Leviathan, which swims along the ocean floor, terrorizing any creature that nears it. Mishway The grass grew peacefully on Mishway as it had for aeons. Overhead, the trees grew strong in the light and the winds played among the branches. On one hill stood the great Egg Tree, branches heavily laden with large orbs. In rapid sucession, Syreene appears, followed moments later by the Monarch Queen, born of an egg that fell from the tree. Nearby, Djaf emerges through a gate to the beyond. Life emerges on Mishway through the ministrations of its gods as they begin to meet one another. Eventually, the winds bring forth Absalom and the tree births another god, Caltabactos. Turn 1:May 23rd-30th Culthet The Gods of Culthet decide to explore the surface and swim upwards, arriving shortly after the latest god, The Mother splashes down into the ocean and creates the first bit of solid land on the plane, a drenched and swampy island. The Mother and the other gods converse for a time, as she is interested in finding a dry place to create her Children. After rejecting a proposal from Davos, she, Karak and Itja-Rek join forces to create a massive structure known as The Hive and The Twisted Hive, filling it with organisms. Content with the humid hive, The Mother gives birth to her first child, the god Ordek. Mishway The waters of Mishway, long held beneath the surface, surge upwards, soon covering half of the plane in a warm sea. It is a period of great fecundity as many species are born and frolic in the grassy plains, including the Dobbits and Gigadobbits. Several gods collaborate to create the first vaguely 'humanoid' organisms: Wood Waifs, born of the very trees. Soon, the dobbits and wood waifs are drawn into the first of many tea parties thrown by The Monarch. Elsewheres, Djaf and Absalom strike up a lengthy discussion on the nature of existence and Syreene stumbles upon a shard of Otherness and with it brings forth Poliphas. Turn 2:May 30th-June 6th Culthet The Mother sets about creating a new child, Ordek and training him in the ways of creation as they both fill the hive with insects of many types. Ordek displays his prowess by creating a massive archipelago of marshy islands while his Mother secrets herself away in a hidden chamber of the hive and gives birth to the first populace, the Trilobites. Itja-Rek, who had been at The Hive, discovers that a thin crack in reality is trying to suck his essence back into the Otherness. He reclaims his essence and destroys the hole, but as a side effect drags Aaviz out as well. Aaviz does not start off the relationship on a good foot, bashing in Itja-Rek's head (freeing Hulna) and ripping the god's mountain from the ocean floor to float high above the clouds. Furious, Itja-Rek seeks out the other gods of Culthet, but is followed by an increasingly unhinged Aaviz, who begins to create skimmers, monsters which convert organic material to metal for replication. As the turn draws to a close, Itja-Rek, Ordek and Karak work together to create Nagas. Mishway As autumn comes to Mishway, Syreene turns once more into Sonnet, who meets Caltabactos for the first time and forms somethign of a friendship. The Monarch puts on a fashion show, but is interrupted when a flash of Culthet-storm surrounds the egg-tree, prompting the creation of a new egg, full of Silis. Sonnet and Catalabactos go to seek out the new god, curious as to the smells of Culthet that accompanied him. Sonnet creates additional help for himself in the forms of the Lyn of autumn. Absalom puts work into his waltzing mountains, covering them with trees and waterways and prey creatures. The Lords of Spring begin attempting to court the Lyn of Autumn. The first race (the Mish) appears on Mishway, created by the Monarch as a hopefully more communicative being than the Dobbits. Turn 3: June 6th-12th Culthet A period of great fecundity begins, prompted by Karak's proposal of a great contest to create new life for Culthet. New creatures of every sort emerge and populate the waters and islands of the plane. Hulna steals some naga and creates the Mindflayers, which earns him the immediate ire of Ordek, sparking a great rivalry between them and their creations. Itja-Rek, low on souls due to his use of them to create the Bryofites, begins acting strangely as the more powerful souls begin to affect his speech and actions. Eventually, he and Aaviz craft a crown to dampen the effects, and Itja-Rek begins to think about a more permanant solution. Mishway Mishway teems with new life. Troinats stalk Mish in the forests and float above the plane on massive skyjellies, mutated forms of light-lure jellyfish brought over from Culthet by accident. The Courtship culminates in the creation of a new race of Eladrin, who get off to a rocky start with their Troinat neighbors. Eventually, Poliphas begins gathering gods for a tea party... with mixed success. Turn 4: Mishway Eidolons march from the Pillar Small bits of Culthet and Mishway begin bleeding over into one another. Draxos is made from one of the connective holes between Mishway and Culthet Absalom creates Grimnit, and the two immediately begin fighting. The colliding planes form Schi'vya and Clastron Culthet Aaviz continues to follow Itja-Rek The Waters become sentient and come to life, forming Harkon Armal The Reaper is ascended from a Naga named Susan A hole appears, connecting Culthet to Mishway. The Monarch and Itja-Rek begin sending messages to one another, not trusting each other one little bit. Ordek forms a coalition to make life harder for beings on Culthet, and finds it very difficult to garner support. Harkon provides a prophesy of an impending joining of the Planes A great continent floats high above the storms of Culthet. Aaviz and Hulna get into a fight, despite the best attempts of The Mother and Itja-Rek THE WARP Turn 5: Mishway The Monarch creates a great beast, Concordia, and it travels through to the Warped Plane. Mishway gradually vanishes into the Warped World. Culthet The Mother notices the Hive has warped, and an emergency conclave is formed to discuss what, exactly, had happened, and what to do about it. They had barely begun when the storms of Culthet fragmented and vanished in the space of a few seconds. Umbart awakens and promises to hold the plane together and attempt to transport it en-masse to the new plane. Itja-Rek decides that clearly whomever is beyond the hole in the Tomb is to blame, and sends a demand through. The Monarch replies, posing as a great destroyer, Concordia, who demands submittance to her will. The Culthetian gods... refuse. However, The Mother and Aaviz start to set up a portal to the 3rd plane, much to the protests of Itja-Rek, who believes that that would be playing into Concordia's plans. Despite his concerns, the Mother leaves, and Itja-Rek and Aaviz begin arguing bitterly over what to do next. It culminates with Itja-Rek claiming Aaviz to be the agent of Concordia. It was then that the waters of Culthet drained away and the sun went dark, just before the entire plane begins to break apart at the seams. Upon hearing that Concordia was defeated, Itja-Rek takes the plunge, leaving Umbart to gather the last remnants of Culthet for one final Warp. The Warped Plane The Hive is the first object to Warp,followed quickly by Davos and the Caverns of Davos. The Severed Bryofites in the Hive begin to form their own community, separate from the City. Gods begin to warp through bit by bit, and Mishway and Culthet begin to meet each other for the first time. Concordia attacks the Hive, and various gods rise up to fight it. Various gods, and the Leviathan. The titans fought back and forth, and also fought against the Gods themselves, but were eventually silence and locked away in a mountain of ice. With a Mighty heave, the last bits of Cuthet and Mishway pass through with a loud booming sound, and the Warp is finished. AFTER THE WARP Turn 6: The Gods all meet for the first time. The Monarch attempts to set up a new system of rule with herself at top, but Itja-Rek, trying to maintain a lasting peace between the gods of each plane (and knowing that having but a single ruler from one plane would not do this), does something rash and proposes a marital alliance with The Monarch, who accepts, much to the surprise of the god and the consternation of MANY of the others, The Mother in particular, who, it would appear, harbors some feelings for Itja-Rek herself. This action sets of a chain of events that would have great reprecussions in the future. Already, sepratist elements of each plane are decrying the other's inhabitants. Itja-Rek soon starts to get cold feet. Umbart creates a moon around the Caverns of Davos, but Sonnet/Syreene has bigger ideas, grasping all the various pieces of the planes that made it through intact and arranging them into two hollow half-spheres, with the Waltzing Mountains floating between. The Conflict continues as Itja-Rek continues to lash into Aaviz for being a minion of Concordia, while the other continues to deny any association... this being true, eventually the God of Tombs would apologize and after that the Gods would become friends again, but not yet. Davos returns to the Syllibine dream and sees the truth of the matter, discovering the Queen's role in the creation of Concordia and the true dumb and nearky feral nature of the beast. Absalom and the Monarch begin a friendship, and the Monarch grows small and child-like, while Sonnet and The Mother, both disgusted by the actions of Itja-Rek and the Monarch, also begin to grow closer. Aaviz rips out a great chunk of land and sends it out beyond the Veil to form a new floating continent. Meanwhile, Rampart sketches out a system to provide light to the world, while the Moon of Davos/Umbart moves to the center of the world and is transformed into a spire conecting the two halves, known as the Godspire. The Chains of Culthet also expand, gripping the two bowls and holding them in place in the heavens. Absalom turns to the upper bowl and begins to form a paraside for future followers. Turn 7: Brood Lords, fated to kill the Mother, appear on Ordarak-Rek The Eladrin and Illithids begin a long war. The Mother and Itja-Rek meet in his Tomb, and just as... affection... is kindled, more gods appear, a verifiable gathering... gathers in the Tomb of Itja-Rek, where Itja-Rek is horrified to discover that his once-fiancee has transformed into a small child, something which is, needless to say, a bit of an anathema even to gods. After much debate, the god agrees to attempt to become like a child himself, with disastrous consequences. The template of the mindflayer takes over the god's body, and begins to do very... undignified... things... like mind-slurping. He is stopped by Aaviz, and runs off to pout in a corner. The mother goes to console him, and realizes what has happened. After... quite a bit of dramatics, Absalom nearly kills Itja-Rek, which gives the god the chance to wrest control back from the Illithid and return to full-size. However, it is clear that the god cannot change for the Monarch, and the Monarch leaves in a fury over the percieved slight. Itja-Rek continues to say the wrong things to the Mother, though... All that must be put on pause as Harkon Armal foolishly divides himself into two pieces (the better to do things with!) And learns that this is not the best of ideas. Turn 8: Harkon is restored The Mother adopts Silis' Troinants The Illihids begin the attack on the rest of the world, siezing much of the dragonborn race and forcibly enslaving them. The Bahenet are born. One of the exarchs of Harkon, Despair, issues an ultimatum to Nihiliath: Cease attacking or be destroyed. Leave the surface or be destroyed. In response, Hulna incarnates in mortal form and confronts Despair. Soon the Reaper has joined the meeting, but the presence of the God drove both exarchs away, for now. Syreene and the Mother Mate, just to prove they can. This causes... emotions as Itja-Rek stumbles upon them and jealously snipes at both, only to be driven away by the Mother while Syreene vows to bring down the God of Tombs for his slight. Turn 9: The Dragonborn enslaved by Nihiliath break free in a massive revolt as one of the heroes of the people goes to strike down the Avatar with a specially-blessed blade. Tensions remain between Itja and Aaviz, although the latter remains, as always, oblivious to the reasons why. Despair returns to Nihiliath, and the entire city is plunged into the depths of the earth! The Lords and Lynne of the Warped Court go out to parlay with Despair and the Reaper, as the exarchs are demanding the removal of all mindflayers from within the court as well. A pair of Bahenet children take a marvelous adventure across the face of Sairok, and a seed of doubt is placed in one of their minds. Arknai, lord of Peace, appears, raising the worthy dead as Revenants to form a new society of diplomats and peacekeepers. Turn 10: A great battle occurs between a rogue Grasslord and a village of elves. The Nihiliathan armies find a way back through to Sairok, and the long-paused feud begins anew with eladrin dissapearing in the middle of the night. Despair begins attempting to convince the Reaper to betray her master. Umbart begins forging a new heart for himself. The Mother determines to take a new form, and does so, becoming humanoid. Turn 11: Harkon and Shiv'ya begin to argue over who has the right to control the elements. A rogue band of Bahenet sieze new technology that will allow them to break free from the Altar of Initiation and use it to flee Sairok, traveling all the way to the Golden Forest on Korias before settling once more. The Mother and Itja-Rek meet, and the sparks fly quite impressively. Itja-Rek's souls can finally agree on how 'fitting' the Mother is, and the Mother finally accepts his reasons for not being more forthcoming before. As Itja and the Mother grow closer, Syreene and The Monarch join together in an alliance, and both begin to plot the downfall of Itja-Rek. Itja-Rek and the Mother mate and create new beasts, half-insect and half-etherial to guide souls to a new afterlife, rather than having the only options after death be oblivion or transmutation into Itja-Rek himself. The first part of Syreene's plot falls into place to deny Itja of new souls, providing the Bahenet with new blades that store the souls inside them instead of transferring them to the Repository. At the same time, her exarchs move through the world, promoting the creation of soul-bound undead such as liches to prevent even more souls to travel to Itja-Rek. Turn 12: The Monarch places a great tempest over Wenet, raging and storming over the entire area. The Forest of Flesh, a forest of trees made of bone, flesh and blood arises. It begins killing those nearby to add to its biomass. Turn 13: The question of Seelite ignites a rift in the Bahenet peoples! Turn 14: The Reaper is imprisoned by an exarch of Syreene, who shapeshifts to take her place. An alliance between the warped court and the dragonborn comes into being. Turn 15: The massed Nihiliathan army emerges from the Outerdark and attacks the warped court, however the battle ends quicky when the allied dragonborn and eladrin soldiers collapse the tunnels leading back to Nihiliath, stranding the mindflayers without supplies. However, the sight of the mindflayers ignites a genocidal purge of any remaining mindflayers within the Warped Court, leading to their exodous and the rise of a new nation, the Risen Court. Itja-Rek demands answers from The Monarch, decimating her Mish until they are broken apart into tiny bands scrabbling for existence, but... no response is forthcoming from the Goddess. Turn 16: New gods from another realm of madness emerge near the Mushroom Forest. The City moves to the Hive and demands a return of their wayward parts... who want no such thing. Malice destroys the Soul Repository and is then destroyed as Syreene/Sonnet leaves the universe for a time. A cold winter sets in, lasting an indeterminite amount of time. Turn 17: The Reaper frees herself from captivity, returning to the Tomb and discovering the broken distillery. She does not leave after learning it now dispenses bliss willy-nilly. Turn 18: Turn 19: The Bryofita escape from the City's encroachment, fleeing across the Spire Rivers to Sairok, and finding new individuality. Turn 20: The Leviathan awakens, and Astriluxus and Itja-Rek prepare to defend the world from it. Turn 21: The Leviathan moves against the Triskelion, driving back the Court and destroying Lord Star's keep. Dragons, dragonborn and Bahenet arrive, each offering their help, soon followed by Ogres and Halflings from the northern forests. A massive spear, tipped with Seelite, is fashioned. Suddenly, Astriluxus appears, grappling with the titanic beast and, after a long battle, subduing it. At that moment, the spear leaps forward, stabbing into the beast through an exposed gap. Instantly, the beast drops dead, its soul sucked into the seelite, which glows like a second sun. The beast's body turns into a mountain range, and the defenders look around at the flooded landscape, and attempt to figure out what, exactly, to do next. Elsewhere, The City is pushed out of the Hive by an alliance of Mazunti, Kyrions and Trilobites. It vows revenge as it sinks beneath the waves. In his Tomb, Itja-Rek and The Mother leave for the endless River, but not before Itja-Rek installs a guardian for the tomb. And in the darkness, the mighty beast Concordia opens its eye, aware that its old foe is dead, and prepares to return to the surface herself.